Windfarm planned by Hastings to bury heritage site

A copy of a planning document proposing that Hastings Council use the heritage land on the lower fields at Upper Wilting Farm that is not part of the link road development to bury the rest of this potential world heritage site under a wind farm development (this is economic nonsense as the area is below the tip level and an excuse to authorise housing development as the next phase). It really beggars belief that having established the archaeology on this site is so massive that someone believes they can now use the land to destroy the integrity of the rest of the Upper Wilting site. We have been told that this land has archaeology going back to the Iron Age that may change our understanding of the history of the area (recent BBC article using information from the County Archaeologist office) but it doesnt matter to our elected representatives because they dont care about the heritage of this country or valley. I wonder if it is our MPs who are pushing this forward like they did the link road or is there some financial gain set for Hastings. This land is in Rother. Someone needs to look into this. Having built the Gypsy park which now houses a French workforce who arent allowed to mix with local people there are plans now to put the rest of Wilting under concrete. Lets find out who is responsible for this and deal with them at election time if they have any democratic accountability. We need to know what is going on and who is initiating this so we can get organised and deal with them as its time to stop this rot.

4 thoughts on “Windfarm planned by Hastings to bury heritage site”

Does not the way the local council has conducted itself not warrant some form of judicial review of the whole desecration of this site?
Is it not time to get some of our & other international media savvy historians, with a bent towards English history, involved in bringing this to the country’s attention?
You’ve done sterling work on this whole project, Nick, maybe you need to get a bit more energy, from others, placed behind the need to highlight what could be lost if this crazy development goes ahead.
I find it galling that local & national politicians are only ever focused on the need to keep voters on side, rather than look at a much bigger picture & what could be lost forever.
Is it not worth bringing this whole project to the attention of the international organisations that deal with world heritage sites, whom ever they are?

Interesting but not at all surprising. Glad I don’t live in Hastings nowadays.

Obviously windmills work better on the top of a hill, there are numerous examples in Sussex. Perhaps they intend to put them at the bottom of the hill but make them 300 feet high to catch the wind.

Hastings Council have a very dubious track record when it comes to windmills. The last one in the borough was the old Silverhill Mill. Much admired by the townspeople and a landmark visible for miles around. I think it was owned by the council and by the early 1960s it was in a sorry state, two sails gone and covered with rusty corrugated iron. I seem to remember it was going to cost about £3000 to make safe and preserve it for posterity. The council decided that was too expensive and the mill was demolished. I’m pretty sure that the land becme Ponswood industrial estate.

A few weeks later they spent about £3000 on chinese porcelain for Hastings Museum.